The cops-and-robbers action MMO could be back in business by the end of the year, say insider sources.

After months in limbo, someone has finally decided that they wanted the ill-fated action MMO, APB: All Points Bulletin. K2 Network, a company that specializes in localizing Asian games for a Western audience, has snapped up the rights to the game for the relatively small amount of $1.5 million.

APB is likely to become a free-to-play game supported by microtransactions, much like the rest of K2's titles. K2 uses a single unified currency across all its games, the G1 Credit, as part of its GamersFirst platform, and claims to have 28 million customers in more than 160 countries. Sources suggest that K2 aims to have APB back up and running as soon as it can, possibly even by the end of the year.

APB's first run ended somewhat prematurely, as high development costs and disappointing sales crippled developer Realtime Worlds. A number of buyers were rumored to be looking at snapping up the APB property, including Gears of War creator Epic, but administrators said that none of the interested parties were comfortable buying it as a "live operation."

APB wasn't good. That being said, the character creator was the absolute best I have ever seen! I want to see this in every game...ever! I would download the f2p client just to create a ton of characters!!!

It never should have been subscription based in the first place. With the city design and the capability for customizable items they could have easily put in some real advertizing and built the rest of the game around microtransactions to keep the game running.

AnarchistAbe:APB wasn't good. That being said, the character creator was the absolute best I have ever seen! I want to see this in every game...ever! I would download the f2p client just to create a ton of characters!!!

The idea behind APB is good, it was the lack of content that dragged it down IMO...

But yes, the character costumisation was epic and i also would like this in all games... Makes the characters alot more personal...

OT: i will look forward to this.. Still have it on my steam account.. It look so sad without an icon... :(

fix-the-spade:So, they've got a game someone else sank $100million into for $1.5.

K2 are geniuses but it compounds how badly run Realtime Worlds was if that's all their five year development span was worth, not much of a return on investment.

Is it really only 5 years they have been working on it? I saw it the first time when they still were looking for designers and programmers and only had concept art, and that surely feels like more than 5 years.. But then again i can be wrong...

SomebodyNowhere:It never should have been subscription based in the first place. With the city design and the capability for customizable items they could have easily put in some real advertizing and built the rest of the game around microtransactions to keep the game running.

Normally I take a dim view of F2P games (in my experience, it all boils down to "whoever has the most free cash lying around gets the best stuff") but I do have to agree with this. In fact, at launch, the game did have one advertiser, the porn site Suicide Girls- for reasons far beyond my ken- but apparently they were withdrawn a few weeks after launch. I have no idea if RTW had pursued any other advertisers, but they really missed out on a potential line of income.

By point of fact, I'd put up a thread in the APB suggestions forum about a month after release, giving the suggestion of running contests for players to develop new ads for APB's in-game brands, to drum up interest in the game. Unfortunately the thread fell off the front page like a rock with nary a response- probably because it wasn't complaining about weapon balance or hard-to-access rooftops. Meh.

Still! Hearing about APB's return is welcome news, though I suppose I'll have to wait and see in what form, exactly, the game returns (and if our old characters will still be available). Having it back up by the end of the year would in itself be a considerable feat and possibly a good sign of the company's dedication towards their new acquisition.